December 1910 United Kingdom general election explained

Election Name:December 1910 United Kingdom general election
Country:United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Type:parliamentary
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:January 1910 United Kingdom general election
Previous Year:Jan 1910
Previous Mps:List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, January 1910
Next Election:1918 United Kingdom general election
Next Year:1918
Seats For Election:All 670 seats in the House of Commons
Majority Seats:336
Elected Mps:List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, December 1910
Leader1:H. H. Asquith
Leader Since1:30 April 1908
Party1:Liberal Party (UK)
Leaders Seat1:East Fife
Last Election1:274 seats, 43.5%
Seats1:272
Seat Change1:2
Popular Vote1:2,157,256
Percentage1:44.2%
Swing1:0.7%
Leader2:Arthur Balfour
Leader Since2:11 June 1902
Party2:Conservative and Liberal Unionist
Leaders Seat2:City of London
Last Election2:272 seats, 46.8%
Seats2:271
Seat Change2:1
Popular Vote2:2,270,753
Percentage2:46.6%
Swing2:0.3%
Leader4:John Redmond
Leader Since4:6 February 1900
Party4:Irish Parliamentary Party
Leaders Seat4:Waterford City
Last Election4:71 seats, 1.2%
Seats4:74
Seat Change4:3
Popular Vote4:90,416
Percentage4:1.9%
Swing4:0.7%
Leader5:George Barnes
Leader Since5:14 February 1910
Party5:Labour Party (UK)
Leaders Seat5:Glasgow Blackfriars
and Hutchesontown
Last Election5:40 seats, 7.0%
Seats5:42
Seat Change5:2
Popular Vote5:309,963
Percentage5:6.4%
Swing5:0.6%
Map Size:400px
Prime Minister
Posttitle:Prime Minister after election
Before Election:H. H. Asquith
Before Party:Liberal Party (UK)
After Election:H. H. Asquith
After Party:Liberal Party (UK)
Turnout:81.6%
Map2 Image:File:December 1910 UK GE Westminster diagram.svg
Map2 Caption:Composition of the House of Commons after the election.

The December 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 3 to 19 December. It was the last general election to be held over several days and the last to be held before the First World War.

The election took place following the efforts of the Liberal government to pass its People's Budget in 1909, which raised taxes on the wealthy to fund social welfare programmes. The 1909 budget was only agreed to by the House of Lords in April 1910 after the January general election in which the Liberals and the Irish Parliamentary Party gained a majority. The Government called a further election in December 1910 to get a mandate for the Parliament Act 1911, which would prevent the House of Lords from permanently blocking legislation linked to money bills ever again, and to obtain King George V's agreement to threaten to create sufficient Liberal peers to pass that act (in the event this did not prove necessary, as the Lords voted to curtail their own powers).

The Conservative Party, led by Arthur Balfour with their Liberal Unionist allies, and the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, almost exactly repeated the numerical result produced in the January election, with the Conservatives again winning the largest number of votes. The Liberal Party under Asquith remained in government with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party. This was the last election in which the Liberals won the highest number of seats in the House of Commons. It was also the last United Kingdom general election in which a party other than Labour or the Conservatives won the most seats.

Results

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Seats summary

Aftermath

Both the Liberals and the Conservatives won 272 seats, however the Liberals remained the largest party due to the Speaker having been Conservative, meaning they sat with 271 MPs.

The Liberals, still lacking a parliamentary majority, again went into coalition with the Irish Parliamentary Party, who insisted on a Home Rule Bill as a condition of coalition.

See also

Further reading

External links

Manifestos